So I guess with the bases loaded, you probably want him up as much as anybody. I mean, we could go all the way back to Spring Training, he's had that slugging as part of his game, which maybe we didn't see much last year. Obviously Addison had probably the biggest hit of the night. It's just correct and apt that we'd go seven games. Again, of course, of course we want to be the group that breaks the string, but you're probably right. All of a sudden, our offense is having a resurgence, which we need. They've been outstanding pitching all year. Both sides have played really good baseball. Joe, just given the buildup, the weight, the whole length on both sides with both teams having not won, does it somehow seem appropriate to you that this has gone to a 7th game? JOE MADDON: Yeah, we talked about it, but he assured us he was fine. And you weren't worried about his ankle after he stepped on the base? So he went out there and he was outstanding again. I talked to him before the game once again, he was aware of the scenario. So for me, the game could have been lost right there, and he's by far our most dynamic relief pitcher. And then Lindor, he could hit a home run at any time, and it's much more difficult to hit it against Chapman's velocity. There is no other way to look at that and feel good. JOE MADDON: It's just the middle of their batting order. Again on Chapman, were you concerned about him hurting himself on that play? And would you have gone to him if it wasn't Lindor? Was that sort of a tip of the cap to Lindor to bring him in? I think he ended up with 20 pitches, so don't think that was much more impactful than 16. Then second of all, just trying to get Stroppy ready and have Aroldis pitch to one hitter. So first of all, the meaty part of their batting order, if you don't get through that, there is no tomorrow. So when things happen that quickly sometimes there's a day that you could just let your guy go out there and take him out before the next hitter, but that's not part of the landscape anymore. Also there was a threat that we would score more runs, which we did, and just did not have enough time to get Stroppy warmed up after the two-run home run by Rizzo. So I thought the game could have been lost right there if we did not take care of it properly.

I mean, 7th inning there because they came up, the middle of the batting order was coming up, Lindor, Napoli, Ramirez possibly, all that stuff. I guess it's a mouthful, thoughts on why Chapman in the 7th? Why again in the 9th when it's a seven-run lead again? And do you think you imperiled his availability for especially length tomorrow by what you did tonight? I like making the ones you're supposed to make, and then we have such good athletes that they're able to make even better-than-that plays, i.e., the dive by Jason, and then eventually Perez trying to get into a double there in it that last at-bat.Īll over the place, man, that's pretty much what we've looked like the entire season, those kind of defensive plays. We're also capable of spectacular defensive plays. We're used to making good defensive plays. How do you think that helps you moving forward? Because any play tomorrow in a game like that, it could make the difference. Even the play that Chapman made at first base, getting over there by a hair.

Back to the defense, I mean, you guys made three or four terrific plays. So there was a lot of good stuff that we did tonight. How about Jason? The double play by Javy was incredibly good, and then Chappy to the rescue again, getting out of that inning against the middle part of their batting order. Our approaches were better hitting the ball out of the ballpark. I just know our hitters felt better about everything.

Like I said before, I think the weather could possibly help us out. JOE MADDON: No, I mean, Jake was really good. Could you have back then imagined a better scenario? Just a couple days ago you guys are just fighting to stay alive, now you've forced a Game 7.

Indians 2016 world series baseball cap